A DISABLED man has been forced to wait six weeks for a ground floor flat - despite having to haul himself up 14 stairs to his first floor home.

Brian Slater, 59, returned home from hospital on August 26 after having his leg amputated two inches below the knee.

But the ex-entertainer had to wait until Thursday (September 16) for an accommodation assessment by housing officers at Blackpool Borough Council, six weeks after his August 4 operation.

In the meantime Brian, who also suffers from osteo-arthritis, has to struggle up and down 14 steps on his backside while his 66-year-old wife Jeannie lifts his bulky wheelchair up the flight of stairs.

Brian, whose stage name was Benny Tunn before he retired as compere at the Hampton Road Social Club in 1992, said: "I lost my leg when I got an infection in it after stepping on a nail and I need a ground floor flat.

"I'm not angry with any one individual at the council and don't want to single anyone out, but what I am angry about is how long it has taken. "It's three weeks since I came out of hospital, six weeks since my operation, and I feel the council could have been more helpful in getting things moving quicker.

"I have been told by the council that I have a warden - Jeannie - and that's why I can't have a ground floor flat, but it's also because they told me I had to be over 75.

"Meanwhile I have to drag myself up the stairs and it's a very stressful and painful experience - it's not an easy job.

"I need a ground floor flat because it's going to be a few months before I get a false leg fitted, and even then doctors say it will be a long time before I learn to walk on it."

A spokesman for the council said: "Mr Slater would not automatically be able to move into sheltered accommodation if he were 75 and single. But he will have the assessment on Thursday which is made on individual circumstances."

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